Abstract
Multi-use landscapes are now recognized for their value in supporting biodiversity and aiding species conservation, including charismatic megafauna. However, semi-arid open-canopy human-use landscapes have faced multiple anthropogenic stressors over the past centuries and have received meager conservation attention, especially in South Asia. A growing body of evidence suggests that such ecosystems, even with intermittent human use, can provide habitats for globally threatened species and support their conservation. To understand the role of semi-arid multi-use landscapes in supporting populations of large-bodied wildlife in India's Deccan Peninsula, we used key informant interviews with pastoralists and a single-season single-species occupancy modeling framework and examined the distribution of three species: striped hyena Hyaena hyaena, sloth bear Melursus ursinus, and blackbuck Antilope cervicapra. Hyena, sloth bear and blackbuck occupied 52%, 26% and 63% of the landscape, respectively, despite the absence of intensively managed protected areas. Conservative estimates suggest that Indian gray wolf (Canis lupus pallipes) was present in at least 76% of the landscape. ONEs favored occupancy of hyena and sloth bear, while low-intensity agriculture supported blackbuck presence. Our results highlight the conservation potential of agro-pastoral landscapes and challenge the narrative of characterizing semi-arid open ecosystems as "wastelands". We also demonstrate how experiential knowledge of communities can be applied to ecological research when using traditional methods is infeasible. Under global change scenarios, misclassification and mismanagement of critical socio-ecological systems, such as the ONEs of Deccan Peninsula, will not only jeopardize the survival of populations of threatened species but also weaken the land-sharing potential of these regions.